Month: September 2017

2017 is the first year Deutsche Messe and Tobias Renz Fair, the organizer of the annual joint Hydrogen + Fuel Cells + Batteries booth in Hanover, Germany, will manage a stateside group exhibit called Hydrogen + Fuel Cells North America, the US counterpart of Germany’s industry meeting. From Sept. 10 through 13, the most important solar trade show and the largest energy storage event in North America – Solar Power International boasting 700 exhibitors and 20,000 attendees and Energy Storage International, respectively – will run in parallel at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.

This year’s June issue came with a detailed description of the electrolyzer market and in-depth reports on manufacturers and their products. But of course, the list wasn’t exhaustive, as numerous businesses have entered the segment and much had to be left unsaid. Many of those suppliers exhibited at Hannover Messe, showcasing their latest developments. Considering the great interest in our previous article on the technology, we thought to create a summary

The supply volatility of renewable sources such as solar and wind will need to be countered by powerful and efficient systems that can store the generated energy at any time and make it available as soon as demand requires. One solution to solve this challenge is energy storage in a material such as hydrogen (power-to-gas).

The Next Energy research center has gone through uncertain times recently. Last November, the German government did make EUR 7 million per year available to fund the organization, but those millions would only be paid if Next were incorporated into the DLR, the German Aerospace Center. Its integration into the government’s main research organization on aerospace and energy technology, transportation and safety in basic and applied research is intended to save 120 jobs in Oldenburg, Germany

Demo4Grid is an FCH JU project in the vein of H2Future. It was likewise launched in Austria, in March 2017, and just as H2Future, it has been focusing on green hydrogen. The main differences are the test system, now a 4-megawatt high-pressure alkaline electrolyzer, and the location, this time near Therese Mölk, an industrial bakery

The German government has set clear targets for emissions reduction, starting at minus 40 percent by 2020, 55 percent by 2030, 70 percent by 2040, and 80 to 95 percent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels. One option to meet these targets is to increase renewable use to at least 80 percent of total market size (local electricity production and imports minus exports) by 2050. Intermittent renewable sources such as PV, onshore and offshore wind power will be crucial to meet demand due to their huge potential and will dominate any future electricity market.

It’s not the first time someone has tried to use hydrogen storage for making homes energy self-sufficient. The latest company to make the attempt is Home Power Solutions, based in Berlin, Germany. When HPS unveiled its Picea unit in March 2017 at the ISH in Frankfurt am Main, the press seemed to be all over it. This may have had something to do with HPS’ former parent company, Heliocentris, having filed for bankruptcy shortly before the trade show. H2-international sat down for an interview with the managing directors of HPS during Hannover Messe to talk about the company’s history and new developments.

Frank Duhlies, the formerly managing director of Mossau Energy based in Aurich, Germany, has already had hands-on experience with small solar-hydrogen units based on his involvement in the design of Blue Hamster, a blue-color hydrogen generator Mossau unveiled at Hannover Messe in 2013 (see July 2013 issue of HZwei). A demonstration system with a 100-kilowatt solar unit, a 41-kilowatt-hour battery, a 2.3-kilowatt electrolyzer, a 20-cubic-meter H2 pressure vessel and a 2.5-kilowatt fuel cell went online in 2014 at Klar Folien in Dernbach. Mossau, however, had to close down in late 2015

Markus Forstmeier, VP business development at Bavarian-based Electrochaea, has joined the board of the German Energy Storage Association, or BVES for short. During the general meeting in March 2017, Forstmeier was elected to the association’s executive board.

This year’s general meeting of the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association, or DWV for short, took place in Erlangen, Germany, on May 12, 2017. Since there were no board elections to be held, the main issue was the association’s new focus. But even an arguably debate-worthy point such as this one was not met with great enthusiasm by DWV members. Werner Diwald, chair of the German association, outlined management’s ideas of establishing new expert committees (besides performing energy) or an internal group to further professionalize the organization.